Wrapping Up Day One
The fist day of the long anticipated Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament is over. There were not many surprises. Of course nobody had thought that the game between Canada and Mexico would end in a slugfest. Nonetheless everything else went like expected.
South Korea delivered a message that their pitchers are already in midseason form. A little scare at the beginning didn’t bother the Aussies in their opener. The host Chinese Taipei feed from the screaming crowd to win easily. And Germany, South Africa and Spain are still the underdogs despite some promising signs.
What do we expect from game day two on Saturday. Canada is facing South Africa in the afternoon and should be on their way to win number two.
At the same time, Mexico is already under pressure against Chinese Taipei. Both faced each other in two matches at the Baseball World Cup (BWC) in November with the North Americans winning twice.
In the night session we will see the European duel between Germany and Spain. They met last September in the European Championship. Spain won 11-3 behind three RBI of Jose CRUZ and six strikeouts by Yoel HERNANDEZ.
The more interesting game, if you are looking from outside of Europe at the Qualifier is the South Korea - Australia match. They split their two clashes at the BWC. However the Asian team has a much better roster on hand this time.
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Photo: © International Baseball Federation (www.ibaf.tv.)
